V 


Rev.  SAMUEL  C.  JACKSON'S 


ELECTION    SERMON. 


1843 


Religious  Principle — A  Source  of  Public  Prosperity. 

A 

SERMON 

DELIVERED    REPOSE 

HIS    EXCELLENCY    JOHN    DAVIS, 

GOVERNOR, 

HIS   HONOR   GEORGE   HULL, 

LIEUTENANT    GOVERNOR, 

THE  HONORABLE  COUNCIL, 

AND 

THE    LEGISLATURE    OF    MASSACHUSETTS. 

AT 

THE    ANNUAL    ELECTION, 

ON    SATURDAY,   JANUARY   7,    18  13. 


BY   SAMUEL    C.    JACKSON, 

Pastor  of  the  West  Church,  Andover. 


ijomon: 

DUTTON    AND    WENTWORTH,    PRINTERS    TO    THE    STATE. 

1843. 


a\ 


(Jrommontoealtl)  of  iHassacljnsctts. 


SENATE,  January  11,  1843. 

Ordered,  That  Messrs.  Dickinson,  Eliot  and  Greenwood,  be  a  Com- 
mittee to  present  the  thanks  of  the  Senate  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  C.  Jackson, 
for  his  Discourse  delivered  before  the  Government  of  the  Commonwealth 
on  the  7th  inst.,  and  to  request  a  copy  for  publication. 

Attest : 

LEWIS  JOSSELYN,  Clerk. 


\Ty='  The  following  Discourse  was  abbreviated  in  the  delivery. 


SERMON. 


2  Peter,  ii :  17. 
FEAR    GOD.       HONOR    THE    KING. 


The  usage  which  has  assembled  us  is  a  memorial 
of  Christian  piety.  Good  men  have  gone  before  us. 
Their  impress  is  upon  our  religious  customs,  upon 
our  laws  and  institutions.  This  occasion,  conse- 
crated by  similar  convocations,  for  more  than  two 
centuries,  reminds  us  of  the  Christian  rulers  who,  for 
so  many  generations,  have  come  up  hither ; — who 
came  in  times  often  of  thrilling  interest,  from  changes 
of  administration  and  dynasty  in  the  mother-land, 
from  the  revocation  of  charters,  from  the  tyranny  of 
foreign  governors,  and  from  the  scenes  and  hazards 
of  revolution.  What  men  were  they !  With  what 
integrity  of  purpose  and  nobleness  of  spirit  did  they 
come  to  this  metropolis,  to  share  the  honors  and 
responsibilities  of  government  !  Would  that  their 
successors,  in  our  halls  of  legislation,  would  wrap 
themselves  in  the  mantles  that  fell  from  them,  and 
catch  from  their  memories  inspirations  of  virtue  and 
patriotism  ! 


6 

Religion  has  conferred  upon  us  our  free  govern- 
ment. From  the  service  it  has  rendered  freedom,  as 
well  as  from  its  divinity,  it  is  entitled  to  be  heard  by 
those  intrusted  with  our  civil  authority. 

The  brief  injunctions  1  have  quoted  from  an  in- 
spired Apostle  bring  to  view  our  relations  both  to 
God  and  to  civil  government.  The  first,  implying  a 
supreme  regard  to  the  divine  will,  as  the  rule  and 
motive  of  duty,  asserts  the  great  law  of  moral  con- 
duct. The  other  enjoins  a  due  respect  to  the  exist- 
ing depositary  of  the  civil  power,  as  a  public  agent, 
holding  a  trust  from  the  Almighty  for  the  good  of 
men.  Though  apparently  independent,  we  are 
taught,  if  not  by  their  connexion,  yet  by  the  direc- 
tions of  the  New  Testament,  to  regard  our  duties  to 
civil  society  as  a  part  of  our  duty  to  God.  Religion, 
both  natural  and  revealed,  teaches  that  magistrates 
are  "  God's  ministers ;"  if  so,  our  obligation  to  them 
is  founded  on  a  higher  obligation  to  Him  who 
appointed  them. 

As  rulers  and  people  we  are  not  backward  to 
heed  suggestions  of  physical  advantage,  or  the  com- 
mon lessons  of  political  wisdom  ;  but,  at  the  present 
time,  we  most  need  the  operation  of  a  surer  element 
of  national  happiness — the  general  honesty  and  high 
moral  principle  which  result  from  the  fear  of  God. 
Permit  me  to  direct  your  attention  to — 

RELIGIOUS  PRINCIPLE  AS  A  SOURCE  OF  PUBLIC  PROSPERITY. 


The  proprieties  of  the  occasion  will  not  allow  me, 
nor  am  I  disposed  to  enter  the  field  of  party  politics, 
or  to  touch  any  party  chord  ;  yet  it  should  be  con- 
sidered that  many  political  questions  have  moral 
bearings,  that  political  evils  often  arise  from  moral 
causes,  and  are  illustrations  of  the  moral  condition 
of  a  people.  On  these  moral  aspects  I  may  touch, 
as  appropriate  to  my  office  and  to  this  service. 

Reverence  for  God  is  the  summary  of  all  religious 
principle.  That  it  is  an  essential  element  of  national 
prosperity,  appears  from  its  relation  to  true  virtue  ; 
from  its  tendency  to  secure  an  observance  of  the 
first  principles  of  civil  government ;  from  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  other  grounds  of  reliance  ;  and  from  its 
efficacy  to  diminish,  if  not  remove,  prominent  public 
evils. 

I.  Religious  principle  is  the  main  support  and 
security  of  true  virtue. 

That  individual  virtue  is  the  grand  basis  of  repub- 
lican freedom,  is  a  truth  that  no  intelligent  man  will 
for  one  moment  doubt.  There  can  be  but  two  kinds 
of  government,  the  one  relying  for  its  support  on 
force,  the  other  on  moral  restraints.  That  the  prev- 
alence and  efficacy  of  moral  restraints  depend  mainly 
on  a  general  and  devout  reference  to  the  supreme 
will,  as  the  rule  of  duty  and  the  incentive  to  its  per- 
formance, is  certain.     Instead  of  abstract  reasoning, 


8 

1  prefer  to  appeal  to  the  undeniable  facts,  that  the 
Christian  revelation  enforces  duty  upon  the  principle 
of  a  command  from  the  Creator, — that  our  own 
moral  powers  acquiesce, —  that  the  experience  of  the 
world  has  proved  that  the  light  of  conscience,  and 
natural  religion,  have  never  yet  produced  an  amount 
of  virtue  sufficient  to  constitute  a  safe  basis  of  popu- 
lar freedom, — and  that  the  highest  instances  of 
moral  and  social  advancement  have  been  in  those 
communities  most  governed  by  the  precepts  and 
sanctions  of  the  Christian  religion.  Forever  true 
are  those  memorable  words  of  Washington,  so  often 
quoted,  and  worthy  of  being  repeated  in  the  hearing 
of  the  nation  through  all  time  : — "  Let  us,"  he  says, 
"  with  caution  indulge  the  supposition  that  morality 
can  be  maintained  without  religion.  Whatever  may 
be  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined  education  on 
minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  experience 
both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can 
prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principle." 

But  there  is  a  morality  of  practical  atheism.  It 
would  be  modified,  neither  in  principle  nor  extent,  if 
the  idea  of  God  were  obliterated  from  the  world. 
It  honors  religion  with  compliments,  but  discards  its 
principles  in  practice.  It  overrules  the  laws  of 
Christianity  by  its  decisions,  and  substitutes  the  laws 
of  honor  and   public  opinion,  of  interest  and  reputa- 


9 

tion,  or  a  souse  of  fitness  and  propriety.  When  Alex- 
ander Hamilton  had  fallen  ingloriously,  he  affirmed 
that  he  knew  duelling  was  contrary  to  the  law  of 
God,  and  that  his  usefulness  required  him  to  violate 
that  law ! — thus  pronouncing  no  law  of  Heaven  so 
rigid  as  not  to  yield  to  human  wisdom ! — presuming, 
from  considerations  of  supposed  utility,  to  set  aside  an 
acknowledged  statute  of  the  Almighty,  as  if  the  will 
and  wisdom  of  Omniscience  were  not  the  highest 
expediency  !  And  is  not  this  a  sample  of  the  mo- 
rality too  common  even  among  those  of  virtuous 
repute  and  eminent  station  ?  Their  virtues,  however 
they  may  adorn  character  and  benefit  society,  are 
too  often  dissociated  from  religious  principle,  from  a 
love  of  rectitude,  as  the  will  of  a  rewarding  and 
avenging  Deity.  Based  on  inferior  principles,  such 
virtues  too  often  fail,  when  cupidity  and  ambition 
present  their  temptations,  and  crime  flatters  with 
the  hope  of  impunity.  They  need  higher  moral  se- 
curities. Hence  those  delinquencies  in  reputedly 
virtuous  men,  which  sometimes  astonish  the  commu- 
nity— their  peculations  and  embezzlements  in  pub- 
lic offices,  and  their  stupendous  risks  and  misappro- 
priations of  intrusted  capital.  Hence  the  immo- 
ralities which  invade  our  sanctuaries  of  justice  in 
connexion  with  legal  practice  ;  which  dishonor  our 
halls  of  legislation    in  the  various   forms  of  artifice  : 


10 

which  pollute  the  arena  of  politics,  and  taint  the 
whole  atmosphere  of  party  strife.  Hence  the  estab- 
lishment of  dangerous  precedents,  and  the  sacrifice 
of  principle,  to  purchase  the  political  support  of 
sects,  and  even  of  the  grossest  forms  of  fanaticism 
and  delusion.  Hence,  too,  the  relinquishment  of  po- 
litical consistency  for  preferment,  and  the  political 
somersets  and  treacheries  which  confound  the  ex- 
pectations of  parties  and  of  the  nation. 

To  loose  principles  of  morality  is  to  be  referred 
the  infamous  doctrine  of  repudiation.  Wicked  and 
base  as  it  is,  it  finds  advocates,  when  to  vindicate  it 
is  the  way  to  popular  favor,  or  for  personal  advan- 
tage. And  when  condemned,  it  may  be  too  often 
rather  from  national  pride,  and  from  a  regard  to  na- 
tional credit  and  policy,  than  because  it  is  a  sin 
against  men  and  against  God ;  rather  because  the 
finger  of  scorn  is  pointed  at  us  on  the  exchanges  of 
Europe,  than  because  it  is  a  monstrous  violation  of 
obligation  in  the  offenders,  and  atrocious  injustice  to 
the  sufferers.  It  is,  indeed,  humiliating  that  our 
country,  containing  more  virtue  and  christian  princi- 
ple, having  more  property  distributed  among  the  la- 
boring classes  than  any  other  nation  on  earth,  and 
having  boundless  resources  of  national  wealth,  should 
nevertheless,  in  the  markets  of  the  old  world,  amid 
a  surplus  of  capital,  be   denied  the  means  of  provid- 


11 

ing  daily  bread  for  her  famishing  government ;  and, 
in  public  faith,  be  put  below  the  petty  and  despotic 
sovereignties  of  Europe,  or  even  the  Egyptian  tyrant. 
-But  it  is  not  the  dark  page  this  abomination  will 
make  in  our  history,  which  is  most  to  be  regretted. 
It  is  its  moral  turpitude.  It  is  the  evidence  it  fur- 
nishes of  a  want  of  integrity  and  conscience.  It  is 
its  demoralizing  influence  upon  the  nation,  leading 
to  a  light  estimate  of  the  rights  of  creditors,  of  the 
solemnity  of  contracts,  and  ultimately  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  public  and  private  confidence. 

But  how  does  this  moral  atrocity  differ  in  princi- 
ple, from  that  more  private  repudiation  sometimes 
witnessed  in  the  abuse  of  bankrupt  laws  and  statutes 
of  limitation, — when  the  former  is  regarded  as  any 
other  than  a  temporary  expedient  for  the  mutual 
benefit  of  both  debtor  and  creditor ;  and  when  a  legal 
discharge,  by  either,  is  regarded  as  a  release  from 
moral  responsibility ; — as  if  a  legal  provision  could 
exonerate  men  from  obligations  with  which  their 
Creator  binds  them.  What  is  this  but  to  make 
human  law  the  standard  of  moral  duty,  and  immu- 
table justice  a  creature  of  legislation  and  of  accident ! 

Verily,  as  a  community,  we  need  a  higher  princi- 
ple of  virtue — the  purity  and  efficacy  of  that  which 
partakes  of  Omniscience  and  of  divine  authority. 
This  controls  man  on  the  whole  line  of  his  duty.     It 


12 

reaches  to  every  action  of  public  and  private  life 
which  has  the  attribute  of  right.  He  who,  under 
the  influence  of  religious  principle,  will  surrender 
his  life,  if  the  price  of  his  integrity  and  of  the  favor 
of  God,  can  oppose  an  impenetrable  shield  to  the 
power  of  temptation.  It  is  virtue  of  this  stamp,  in 
rulers  and  people,  which  our  country  now  needs,  as 
the  infallible  remedy  of  its  disorders,  and  the  grand 
specific  of  its  welfare.  Never  can  we  reach  the  high- 
est, measure  of  prosperity  till  the  fear  of  God  shall 
penetrate  every  heart,  and  pervade  the  nation. 

11.  Religious  principle  tends  to  secure  an  observ- 
ance of  the  first  principles  of  our  civil  government. 

What  are  some  of  the  principles  which  lie  at  the 
basis  of  free,  civil  institutions  ?  The  universal  pro- 
pensities and  necessities  of  human  nature  are  the 
decision  of  the  Almighty,  that  man  shall  live  in  civil 
society ;  for  God  is  the  Author  of  Nature,  and  her 
voice  is  but  the  utterance  of  his  own.  If  civil  soci- 
ety is  a  divine  appointment,  we  are  under  obligation 
to  Him  who  instituted  it,  as  well  as  to  its  members, 
to  regard  his  will  respecting  it,  and  to  form  and  con- 
tinue it  in  harmony  with  his  designs.  If  he  has  willed 
its  existence  ;  he  has,  of  course,  willed  whatever  is 
essential  to  its  preservation  ; — that  individuals  shall 
surrender  certain  rights  to  society,  and  that  society 
shall  in  return  protect  their  rights,  and  punish  their 


13 

violation.  But  as  the  members  of  society  cannot  act 
in  the  mass,  to  legislate  and  decree  justice,  there 
arises  the  necessity  of  government  as  the  agent  of 
society  to  effect  its  objects.  Government  is  the 
power  of  society,  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  dele- 
gates, to  secure  the  great  ends  for  which  society 
exists.  It  must  be  in  accordance  with  the  will  of 
God,  because,  having  ordained  civil  society,  he  must 
have  ordained  the  necessary  agencies  for  effecting  its 
true  ends.  For  the  same  reason,  he  has  ordained 
the  different  branches  of  government,  legislative, 
judicial  and  executive ;  the  enactment  and  execution 
of  just  laws  ;  and  the  intellectual  and  moral  educa- 
tion of  the  people.  As  then,  the  various  officers  of 
government,  in  the  exercise  of  their  authority,  are 
administering  God's  institution,  and  can  have  no 
right  to  make  it  subserve  any  purposes  inconsistent 
with  his  designs,  they  are  manifestly  bound,  as  civil 
agents,  by  his  will.  They  are  to  use  their  power 
for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  conferred,  and  for 
which  society  exists,  or  they  contravene  the  laws  of 
their  Creator.  Every  member  of  a  Commonwealth, 
also,  is  bound  to  select  men  as  the  organs  of  govern- 
ment, who  will  administer  it  according  to  the  divine  in- 
tention ;  and  is,  himself,  to  regard  every  law  essential  to 
the  social  and  civil  welfare  as  the  solemn  enactment 
of  the   Infinite   Lawgiver.     And,  in  case  of  unjust 


14 

enactments,  rather  than  employ  an  unavailing  and 
destructive  resistance,  by  force,  he  is  to  obey  God 
and  conscience,  and  abide  the  consequences,  though 
they  be  the  severest  inflictions  of  the  civil  power. 

These  principles  will  commend  themselves  as  the 
elements  of  our  civil  institutions.  They  are  unques- 
tioned truths  in  Moral  Philosophy.  H  true  at  all, 
they  are  elementary  truths  in  the  science  of  govern- 
ment. These  principles  admitted,  it  is  easy  to  dis- 
cover how  the  fear  of  God,  swaying  intelligent  minds, 
must  secure  an  observance  of  them,  and  thus  remove 
a  great  proportion  of  our  public  evils. 

He  who  has  a  conscientious  regard  to  the  divine 
will,  and  has  intelligence  to  discover  it,  will  respect 
it  in  his  political  relations,  and  aim  to  give  effect  to 
the  divine  intentions.  This  would  secure  the  proper 
ends  of  government,  and  an  escape  from  its  chief 
abuses.  His  religious  principle  will  not  allow  him 
to  make  a  divine  ordinance  a  mere  instrument  of 
ambition,  and  to  act  on  the  maxim  that  "  this  world 
was  made  for  Caesar."  Nor  will  he  be  indifferent  to 
those  moral  restraints  which  induce  a  regard  to  indi- 
vidual rights,  and  an  observance  of  promises  and 
oaths  ;  for  these  moral  restraints,  with  him,  derive 
their  authority  from  the  Infinite  Will,  which  is  his 
supreme  law.  Aware  that  all  agents  of  government 
have,  in  their  civil   powers,  a  trust  from  God  as  well 


15 

as  from  men,  and  are  bound  to  accomplish  the  divine 
purpose  in  committing  it  to  them,  which  is,  not 
the  attainment  of  local,  or  personal,  or  party  inter- 
ests, but  the  good  of  the  whole  society,  he  will  not 
deem  it  a  light  matter  to  assume  office,  or  to  elect  to 
it  incompetent  and  unprincipled  men.  Admitting, 
too,  the  divine  authority  of  civil  enactments  which 
are  essential  to  the  well-being  of  society,  and  regard- 
ing every  resistance  or  usurpation  of  the  civil  power 
as  tending  to  the  dissolution  of  society,  he  reverences 
the  sanctity  of  the  laws.  To  him  they  rest  on  the 
authority  of  the  Creator.  To  him  legislators  are 
agents  of  the  King  of  kings.  By  him,  laws  essential 
to  the  general  welfare  are  regarded  as  founded,  not 
merely  on  the  will  of  a  majority,  but  on  the  eternal 
will,  and  they  bind  his  conscience.  And  when  called 
to  obey  what  he  deems  an  unrighteous  law,  instead 
of  involving  himself  and  society  in  the  evils  of  extra- 
judicial violence,  he  does  what  he  believes  to  be  his 
duty,  and  suffers  government  to  take  its  course,  trust- 
ing in  the  power  of  right  and  of  God. 

In  a  community  governed  by  rulers  and  consti- 
tuted of  citizens,  of  such  a  character,  the  great  politi- 
cal disorders  which  now  afflict  us  could  never  exist. 
Only  those  would  long  remain,  which  result  from 
honest  ignorance,  which  arc  the  least  in  our  cata- 
logue of  evils.     This  is  the  certain  tendency  of  reli- 


16 

gious  principle.  If  generally  diffused  and  operative, 
it  must  infallibly  secure  general  respect  to  the  great 
truths  on  which  our  government  is  founded,  and  be 
the  efficient  means  of  general  prosperity. 

The  value  of  religious  principle  as  an  element  of 
national  happiness  appears, 

III.    From  the  insufficiency  of  other  and  the  usual 
grounds  of  reliance. 

It  has  been  a  common  error  to  rely  greatly,  if  not 
chiefly  on  physical,  rather  than  on  moral  causes  of 
prosperity.  Those  concerned  in  the  management  of 
states,  have  made  it  a  primary  object  to  increase 
physical  advantages — to  give  activity  and  force  to 
causes  which  augment  population,  industry,  wealth 
and  military  strength,  and  to  encourage  those  arts 
which  multiply  the  outward  comforts  and  improve- 
ments of  society.  Hence,  their  inquiries  have  been 
mainly  directed  to  theories  of  political,  financial  and 
military  administration — to  commerce,  capital,  labor, 
manufactures,  the  laws  and  balance  of  trade,  condi- 
tions of  price,  the  standard  of  value,  banking,  reve- 
nue, expenditure,  taxation,  and  to  kindred  topics  of 
Political  Economy.  Upon  these  topics  have  been 
concentrated  almost  the  entire  wisdom  of  politicians 
and  statesmen,  and  a  vast  proportion  of  the  legisla- 
tion of  Christendom. 

No  friend  of  his  country,  or  of  his  species,  could 


17 

wish  the  principles  of  the  modern  science  of  Politi- 
cal Economy  to  receive  less  attention  ;  it  is  rather  his 
regret  that  they  are  so  little  understood  and  so  often 
violated  by  ignorant  and  selfish  agents  in  public 
affairs.  Yet  if  history  stamps  any  political  course 
with  folly,  it  is  an  exclusive  or  a  main  dependence  on 
physical  resources.  Nations  distinguished  by  a  pro- 
pitious climate,  productive  soil,  gainful  industry,  lu- 
crative commerce,  dense  population,  military  strength, 
and  similar  elements  of  prosperity,  have  found  them 
all  a  bulwark  of  sand  against  a  rush  of  evils  which 
these  physical  agents  could  neither  mitigate  nor  con- 
trol. The  track  of  time  is  filled  with  the  wrecks  of 
nations  and  governments  that  have  rested  on  such 
securities.  Human  passion  is  the  great  leveller  of 
states.  This  is  not  subdued,  but  often  rendered 
more  intense  and  ungovernable  by  external  advanta- 
ges. No  modern  nation  has  been  more  conspicuous 
as  an  example  of  such  reliances,  to  the  exclusion  of 
moral  means,  than  France.  Her  great  passion  has 
been  for  physical  improvements.  Her  artists  have 
multiplied  inventions;  her  philosophers  have  applied 
their  science  to  practical  purposes ;  her  statesmen 
have  studied  the  lessons  of  Political  Economy ;  her 
generals  and  government  have  kept  alive  a  thirst  for 
military  glory,  and  stored  the  country  with  the 
apparatus  of  war.  Indeed,  overlooking  in  a  great 
3 


18 

degree,  moral  and  religious  influences,  almost  her 
entire  wisdom  and  policy  have  been  exerted  to  se- 
cure physical  results.  The  effect  of  this  upon  her 
social  and  political  welfare,  is  sufficiently  indicated 
by  the  fact,  that  her  primary  assemblies,  embracing 
her  educated  citizens  and  electors,  have  sanctioned 
by  their  votes  ten  different  constitutions,  from  the 
democratic  charter  of  the  Revolution  to  the  despot- 
ism of  Napoleon.  Her  subsequent  revolutions  and 
changes  of  dynasty,  her  conspiracies  and  attempted 
regicides,  her  unquiet  and  revolutionary  tendencies, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  abject  condition  of  the  millions 
of  her  peasantry,  are  a  practical  comment  upon  the 
impolicy  of  trusting  to  outward  improvements  for 
national  happiness. 

Those  approach  nearer  to  wisdom  who,  overlook- 
ing religious  influences,  embrace  other  moral  means  ; 
as  a  popular  form  of  government  with  just  restric- 
tions on  the  power  of  the  ruler  and  the  license  of 
the  individual,  the  enactment  and  administration  of 
salutary  laws,  the  cultivation  of  the  arts  and  of  liter- 
ature and  science,  a  refinement  of  manners,  and, 
above  all,  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  by  universal 
education. 

Unquestionably  those  laws  which  secure  to  the 
mass  of  our  population  the  immediate  proprietorship 
of  lands,  are  an  immense  moral  benefit.     They  tend 


19 

to  create  a  virtuous  sense  of  independence,  and  to 
impart  moral  dignity.  Only  one  year  after  the  Ley- 
den  Pilgrims  rested  the  ark  of  God  upon  our  shores, 
one  of  them  wrote  to  his  "  loving  cousin  "  in  Eng- 
land, "  wee  are  all  free-holders,  the  rent-day  doth  not 
trouble  us."  He  had  begun  to  feel  the  inspiring 
power  of  freedom — his  value  and  his  rights  as  a  man 
and  a  member  of  society.  And  all  civil  regulations 
which  have  this  effect  on  the  mass,  are  of  unspeak- 
able worth.  Vattel,  though  comparatively  a  modern 
writer,  speaks  of  it  with  admiration,  that  in  England 
"  mere  citizens  are  seen  to  form  considerable  enter- 
prizes,  in  order  to  promote  the  glory  and  welfare  of 
the  nation."  Certain  it  is,  that  when  "  mere  citi- 
zens," or  associated  citizens,  are  encouraged  to  do 
this  by  the  operation  of  their  laws,  "  the  glory  and 
welfare  of  the  nation  "   are  comparatively  secure. 

But  the  chief  ground  of  reliance,  aside  from  re- 
ligion, is  the  general  education  of  the  people.  Few, 
indeed,  would  expressly  exclude  religious  culture, 
yet  by  some  it  is  so  feebly  urged,  that  it  can  enter 
but  slightly  into  their  calculations  of  the  agencies 
essential  to  the  highest  prosperity. 

Some,  it  may  be,  instead  of  relying  on  universal 
education,  go  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  sympa- 
thize somewhat  with  Sir  Wm.  Berkley,  a  colonial 
governor  of  Virginia,  who,  in  an  official  coinmunica- 


20 

tion  to  the  lords  of  the  committee  of  the  colonies, 
says,  "  I  thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools,  nor 
printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  them  these 
hundred  years.  For  learning  has  brought  disobe- 
dience, and  heresy,  and  sects  into  the  world,  and 
printing  has  divulged  them  and  libels  against  the  gov- 
ernment. God  keep  us  from  both."  How  different 
his  views  from  those  of  the  pious  founders  of  New 
England  !  How  different  the  results  !  To  our 
Christian  fathers  is  the  world  indebted  for  the  first 
attempt  ever  made,  to  carry  into  effect  the  idea  of 
the  general  diffusion  of  secular  knowledge  among  all 
classes.  Such  a  conception  seems  never  to  have 
entered  into  the  contemplations  of  one  of  the  an- 
cient philosophers  and  statesmen.  The  Puritan 
colonists  unquestionably  derived  this  idea  from 
Christianity,  which,  early  in  its  history,  made  provi- 
sion, by  means  of  parishes  and  churches,  ministers 
and  schools,  for  universal  instruction  in  its  principles. 
That  any  among  us  should  be  afraid  of  a  general 
and  thorough  education  of  the  whole  people,  even 
without  moral  and  religious  instruction,  is  most 
strange.  Yet  there  are  good  men  who  affirm  mere 
learning,  separated  from  moral  principle,  to  be  worse 
than  ignorance,  and  a  public  calamity.  It  is  not  so. 
Better  that  the  nation,  whatever  its  moral  character, 
be  filled  with  knowledge  and  science,  than  with  bru- 


21 

tal  ignorance  and  its  usual  concomitant,  a  dark  and 
blind  superstition.  Surely  experience  does  not  teach 
us  that  secular  instruction  alone,  will  increase  either 
the  ability,  or  the  disposition  of  the  masses  of  society 
to  destroy  its  institutions.  The  most  terrific  scenes 
of  the  most  fearful  revolutionary  convulsions  of 
modern  times,  were  enacted  by  the  ignorant  rabble, 
whom  their  educated  leaders  would  have  restrained, 
and  whose  excesses  they  deplored.  Witness  the 
Parisian  mobs  in  the  days  of  Mirabeau  and  Danton. 
If  we  consult  the  records  of  civil  wars,  for  instance, 
in  Ireland  and  Spain,  where  the  most  ignorant  popu- 
lation in  civilized  countries  have  been  excited  to  in- 
subordination, we  shall  find  this  very  class,  under 
daring  and  artful  leaders,  the  most  terrible  scourges 
of  a  nation.  Their  ignorance  did  not  prevent  their 
secret  plots,  nor  lessen  their  tendency  to  unlawful 
combination,  nor  daunt  their  mad  courage,  while  it 
increased  their  wild  fanaticism,  the  fury  of  their  zeal, 
and  their  savage  ferocity. 

Ignorance  in  the  mass  is  their  strength.  It  ex- 
cludes that  jealousy  of  pre-eminence  and  difference 
of  judgment  which  accompany  intelligence.  An 
ignorant  multitude  all  bend  one  way  before  a  gust 
of  passion,  or  the  command  of  a  dictator,  like  a 
forest  in  a  tempest.  They  move  in  one  flood  of 
desolation.     Their  ignorance  consolidates,  infuriates, 


and  blinds  them,  and  renders  them  the  most  formi- 
dable of  all  destroyers.  But  education  breaks  up 
this  adhesive  mass,  by  introducing  rival  interests, 
discordance  of  views,  independence  of  thought,  and 
thus  destroys  their  unity  in  mischief,  which  is  the 
secret  of  their  power,  and  the  element  most  to  be 
dreaded. 

The  most  uncultivated,  also,  are  able,  and  are  the 
most  ready,  to  learn  the  lessons  of  disaffection  and 
levelling  taught  by  demagogues  and  revolutionary 
reformers.  Destructionism  is  a  science  which  does 
not  require  an  ability  to  read  and  write  to  under- 
stand it.  Its  dogmas  are  short  and  simple.  "  Down 
with  the  rich — abolish  hereditary  property — away 
with  chartered  rights — the  many  are  slaves  to  the 
few — agitate  and  overturn  till  the  fortunes  of  men 
are  equal."  This  was  Jacobinism  in  Europe  a  half 
century  ago  ;  it  is  Chartism  in  England,  and  De- 
structionism in  the  United  States  now.  And  this  is 
a  political  faith  which  the  man  who  cannot  read  and 
write  can  comprehend  as  perfectly  as  other  men  ; 
and,  without  learning,  he  may  be  an  efficient  propa- 
gator of  such  doctrines  among  those  of  his  own 
stamp. 

While  it  is  unquestionable  that  the  well-informed 
will  be  more  orderly,  humane  and  virtuous,  than 
those   classes  which   have  been  destitute  of  all  in- 


23 

struction,  it  is  equally  certain  that  mere  intellectual 
cultivation  is  inadequate  to  the  maintenance  of  our 
moral  and  political  well-being.  Human  wisdom  is 
not  human  virtue.  There  may  be  virtuous  igno- 
rance and  unprincipled  intelligence. 

Talents  angel-bright, 
If  wanting  worth,  are  shining  instruments 
In  false  ambition's  hands,  to  finish  faults 
Illustrious,  and  give  infamy  renown. 

That  may  tend  to  a  result  which  of  itself  will  not 
attain  it.  The  favorable  tendencies  of  intellectual 
culture  will  inevitably  be  so  overborne  by  the  oppos- 
ing tendencies  of  society,  that  these  alone  will  never 
secure  the  grand  end  of  perpetuating  our  institutions. 
Agencies  that  are  too  feeble  may  let  us  down  to 
destruction  as  certainly  as  no  agencies  at  all.  Virtue 
and  religion  only  can  secure  a  discharge  of  those 
moral  obligations  which  knowledge  reveals,  and  sub- 
ject the  moral  feelings  to  the  control  of  an  enlight- 
ened understanding. 

Those  who  regard  mere  secular  knowledge  an 
infallible  remedy  for  political  disorders,  should  re- 
member that  our  danger  lies  not  in  the  ignorance  of 
the  people,  but  in  the  perverted  intelligence  of  their 
leaders.  It  is  notorious  that  the  great  body  of  the 
people  are  frequently  led.  They  do  not  always 
merit  the  benediction  of  the  great  dramatic  bard — 


24 

Blessed  are  those 
Whose  blood  and  judgment  are  so  well  commingled, 
That  they  are  not  a  pipe  for  fortune's  finger 
To  sound  what  stop  she  please. 

On  most  questions  of  general  policy,  the  majority 
of  the  people,  though  uneducated,  if  honestly  dealt 
with,  would  decide  rightly  ;  and  the  great  reason 
why  they  decide  otherwise,  is  not  so  much  because 
they  are  unlearned,  as  because  they  are  misled  by 
those  who  have  more  intelligence  than  principle. 
True,  education  would  be  a  partial  alleviation  of  this 
evil,  as  it  would  better  enable  the  people  to  detect 
a  false  guidance ;  but,  without  moral  principle,  it 
would  be  only  the  semblance  of  a  remedy.  Expe- 
rience shows  that  the  intelligent  and  cultivated  are 
often  as  deeply  enlisted  in  the  success,  have  as  strong 
sympathy  in  the  movements,  and  are  as  truly  the 
slaves  and  victims  of  party,  as  the  most  ignorant  and 
rude.  How  then  shall  intellectual  education  be  suf- 
ficient, when  our  chief  political  evils  already  arise 
from  intelligence  without  virtue  ? 

Imagine  a  population  like  the  primitive  Christians 
spread  over  our  mountains  and  vallies,  uneducated, 
but  retaining  and  exemplifying  the  principles  of  the 
New  Testament.  Would  they,  though  illiterate,  be 
dangerous  citizens,  or  contribute  to  the  number  and 
power  of  our  social  and  political  vices  ?    When  occa- 


25 

sionally  misled,  Christian  principle,  inducing  an  hon- 
est watchfulness  and  care,  would  speedily  restore 
them  to  the  right  path.  While,  therefore,  popular 
ignorance  is  a  fearful  evil,  popular  corruption  is  the 
greater  one.  Religious  principle,  and  this  only,  can 
cure  the  greater  evil,  while  it  mitigates  every  other. 

The  importance  of  religious  principle,  not  merely 
to  our  general  prosperity,  but  to  the  permanence  of 
our  free  institutions,  is  manifest, — 

IV.  From  its  sure  efficacy  to  diminish,  if  not  re- 
move, prominent  public  evils. 

This  is  apparent  from  the  views  already  advanced. 
For  if  the  prevalence  of  true  virtue  is  attained ;  if 
the  essential  principles  of  good  government  are  ob- 
served ;  and  if  no  deceptive  reliance  is  placed  on 
insufficient  means,  the  necessary  result  must  be  an 
alleviation  of  the  evils  which  impair  the  public  wel- 
fare and  menace  our  prospects.  But  this  point  de- 
serves a  more  specific  illustration. 

One  evil  which  has  become  sufficiently  prominent 
to  awaken  deep  solicitude,  is,  an  impatience  of  just 
restraints,  and  a  disregard  of  the  supremacy  of  law. 

It  is  the  perfection  of  the  celebrated  system  of 
Rousseau,  entitled  the  Social  Contract,  that  "  every 
person,  while  united  with  all,  shall  obey  only  himself, 
and  remain  as  free  as  before  the  union."  If  by  this 
is  meant  that  the  individual  is   to  have  no  wishes  or 


26 

passions  that  are  not  in  harmony  with  what  is  right, 
and  in    "obeying  himself"  obeys  only  such  wishes; 
and   consequently  that  he  is  as  unconscious  of  re- 
straint, and  therefore  as    free  as   before  his    union 
with  society — this  is,  indeed,  the  perfection  of  free- 
dom.    But  if  it    means    that  the  individual  when 
united  with  society,  is  to  obey  only  himself,  however 
selfish  and  aggressive,  and  yet  continue  as  free  from 
restraints  and  coercion,  as  in  a  state  of  solitude,  it  is 
a   freedom   both  outrageous  and    impracticable.     It 
would  reduce   man  to  that  state  of  barbarism  from 
which  religion  and  government  have  redeemed  him. 
The  very  idea  of  government  supposes  restraint.     It 
has  its  origin  primarily  in  the  vices  of  society,  which 
it  is  to  restrain  for   mutual  security.     But  in   this 
country,  where  LIBERTY  is  a  cherished  word   on 
every  tongue,  there  is  constant  danger  of  mistaking  it 
for  exemption   from  restraints,  or  undue  license  to 
personal   gratifications,  even   in    defiance   of  public 
law.     This   were   a  liberty  to  invade  rights,  and  to 
restrain  it  is  the  very  end  for  which  government  was 
instituted.     Such  liberty,  instead  of  affording  securi- 
ty, would  render  every  human  right  insecure.     It  is 
the  worst  conceivable  tyranny,  and  men  do  actually 
take  refuge  from  it  under  any  other  form  of  despot- 
ism.    In  the  age  of  feudal  oppression,  men   chose 
to  be  the  vassals  of  one  feudal  lord  rather  than  be  op- 


27 

pressed  by  a  host  of  these  petty  tyrants.  When  the 
nobles  of  Denmark  attempted  to  subject  the  rest  of 
the  nation  to  an  iron  sceptre,  the  people,  of  their 
own  accord,  clothed  Frederick  III.  with  absolute 
power,  and  tore  up  their  political  constitution  with 
their  own  hands.  And  their  monarch  has  continued 
their  absolute  Head  and  Lawgiver  to  the  present 
period.  So  will  it  ever  be.  7Tie  beaten  path  of 
nations  is  through  insubordination  and  anarchy  to  a 
consolidated  despotism.  Who  would  not  prefer  the 
dominion  of  Autocrats  and  Oligarchs  to  that  of  a 
tumultuous  and  lawless  democracy? 

A  contempt  of  law  and  invasion  of  the  preroga- 
tives of  government,  is  obviously  one  of  our  chief 
dangers.  Ebullitions  of  popular  violence  have  ever 
been,  and  ever  will  be,  the  incidents  of  freedom  in 
communities  of  imperfect  morals.  But  do  we  not 
witness  an  advance  of  the  spirit  of  insubordination 
under  somewhat  new  and  more  fearful  developments  ? 
— in  the  high  places  of  our  land,  even  in  State 
Legislatures  and  in  the  capitol  of  the  Union  ?  Look 
at  the  revolutionary  measures,  not  among  an  excited 
populace,  but  in  legislative  bodies — not  to  throw  off 
intolerable  grievances,  but  simply  to  obtain  or  defeat 
political  power,  by  which  legislation  has  been  sus- 
pended or  terminated  and  State  sovereignty  pros- 
trated.    And  who  can  forget  the  scenes  of  personal 


28 

outrage  and  prolonged  tumult  in  the  supreme  Legis- 
lature of  the  land,  in  defiance  of  parliamentary  and 
of  civil  law,  which  have  covered  good  men  with  hu- 
miliation and  the  nation  with  dishonor !  Surely  these 
are  no  doubtful  or  common  indications  of  the  spirit 
of  turbulence,  and  that  however  many  may  value 
freedom,  it  is  not  that  freedom  which  consists  with 
the  supremacy  of  order  and  law. 

That  a  petition  to  dissolve  our  national  Union 
should  proceed  from  some  deluded  men,  were  a  small 
matter.  Insane  delusions  diminish  responsibility. 
That  some  should  conscientiously  resist  certain  con- 
stitutional provisions  pertaining  to  the  relations  of  the 
North  to  the  South,  were  comparatively  of  little 
moment.  But  when  men  of  high  civic  distinction 
obstruct  the  enforcement  of  just  civil  regulations,  and 
even  wink  at  tergiversation  and  corruption  in  wit- 
nesses and  jurors  ; — when  they  are  accessory  to  dis- 
organizing movements  in  those  high  chambers  from 
which  our  laws  proceed, — when  they  sanction  the 
annulment,  by  an  ordinary  legislative  act,  of  chartered 
franchises,  and  of  the  conditions  of  an  unexpired 
compact,  and  thus  unsettle  the  foundations  on  which 
repose  the  rights  of  property  ; — or  when  they  coun- 
tenance resistance  to  legal  and  constitutional  author- 
ity, or  its  unauthorized  assumption  by  individuals 
and  communities — these  are  a  ground  for  the  most 


29 

serious  apprehensions.  It  is  the  disastrous  example 
of  the  high  dignifying  turbulence  and  disorder,  ac- 
celerating the  overthrow  of  our  national  habits  of 
deference,  submission  to  control,  love  of  order,  and 
consequently  subverting  the  foundations  of  law  and 
government.  The  mischief  of  such  an  influence  is 
absolutely  inconceivable.  Of  those  who  exert  it,  it 
is  as  true,  as  of  the  criminal  indicted  at  the  bar  of 
justice,  that  "  they  have  not  the  fear  of  God  before 
their  eyes."  They  are  counteracting  his  will,  writ- 
ten, as  by  a  visible  hand,  on  every  social  organiza- 
tion, "  the  maintenance  of  government  by  the  ob- 
servance and  execution  of  its  laws." 

But,  threatening  as  such  evils  are  acknowledged 
to  be,  the  diffusion  of  sound  religious  influence  would 
terminate  them  at.  once  and  forever.  The  best  se- 
curity for  subordination  to  human  laws,  is  subjection 
to  the  laws  of  God.  In  whatever  community  the 
Christian  religion  produces  its  proper  fruits,  there  can 
be  little  occasion  for  civil  restraints,  or  disposition  to 
violate  them.  Here  there  will  be  love  of  justice  to 
prevent  an  invasion  of  individual  rights,  benevolent 
affections  to  bind  man  to  man  in  the  discharge  of 
reciprocal  duties,  and  habits  of  self-control,  and  of 
submission  to  restraint.  These  virtues  and  habits 
will  commence  in  Christian  families,  be  matured  in 
Christian  schools,  and  by  the  various  influences  of  a 


30 

Christian  community.  Thus  religion  does  the  pre- 
cise work  which  it  is  the  ohject  of  government  to 
accomplish.  It  performs  it  more  effectually  than 
government  ever  can,  for  it  subdues  and  eradicates 
passions  which  the  civil  power  can  only  restrain. 

Let  Christianity  pass  with  its  hallowed  influences 
over  a  people,  and  when  government  follows,  with 
its  retinue  of  officers,  courts  and  penalties,  it  finds 
itself  anticipated — its  work  already  done  by  a  wiser 
and  better  hand.  It  finds  no  crimes  to  punish,  no 
occasion  to  impose  restraints.  Such  a  people,  under 
a  wisely  constituted  government,  will  be  unconscious 
of  its  restraints  and  almost  of  its  existence.  As,  in 
sacred  architecture,  the  perfection  and  symmetry  of 
the  structure  render  the  beholder  unconscious  of  its 
vastness  and  grandeur ;  so  a  Christian  people  under 
a  good  government,  experiencing  its  full  benefits, 
are,  for  this  very  reason,  insensible  to  its  perfection, 
as  the  highest  achievement  of  political  wisdom. 

It  is  also  an  evil  to  which,  as  a  nation,  we  are  pe- 
culiarly exposed,  to  overlook  the  paramount  impor- 
tance of  morals  over  politics. 

Moral  services  are  of  a  higher  character  than  po- 
litical. They  are  of  more  permanent  and  salutary 
tendency.  The  political  benefits  men  are  able  to 
confer  are  often  limited  and  uncertain.  Statesmen 
of  equal  integrity  and  wisdom,  will  propose  different 


31 

and  even  opposite  schemes  of  policy.  But  in  morals, 
as  right  principles  and  conduct  involve  higher  conse- 
quences, so  it  is  more  easy  to  discover  them.  Divine 
Wisdom  has  shed  the  strongest  light  upon  what  is 
most  important  to  man.  Indeed,  it  has  been  ac- 
counted the  great  merit  of  government,  to  refrain 
from  doing  evil,  rather  than  attempt  to  confer  posi- 
tive benefits.  While  it  can  do  little  to  improve  mo- 
rality and  virtue,  it  may  do  much  to  prevent  their 
advancement. 

As,  in  this  country,  the  people  are  the  source  of 
political  power  and  responsible  for  its  exercise  ;  and 
as  partizans  and  candidates  for  office  have  an  interest 
in  pressing  political  measures  upon  public  notice, 
and  magnifying  their  importance,  there  is  a  constant 
tendency  to  attach  undue  consequence  to  mere  party 
politics  ;  and,  what  is  worse,  to  overlook  and  even 
sacrifice  moral  considerations  which  are  vital  to  the 
general  welfare.  In  our  devotion  to  politics,  and  in 
our  idolatry  of  republican  institutions,  we  ought  to 
be  aware,  that  after  ample  security  has  been  obtain- 
ed for  individual  rights,  as  of  conscience,  property 
and  person,  reputation  and  life,  the  happiness  of  a 
community  depends  immeasurably  more  on  its  moral 
and  intellectual  condition,  its  domestic  and  social 
habits,  than  on  the  decision  of  any  political  ques- 
tions, or  even  upon  forms  of  government.     Our  chief 


sources  of  unhappiness  are  those  social  evils  which 
arise,  not  from  the  mistakes  and  incompetence  of 
rulers,  but  from  individual  violations  of  moral  obliga- 
tion. The  evils  of  a  despotism  may  be  slight,  com- 
pared with  those  which  may  be  diffused  and  tolerated 
among  a  people  who  are  free.  In  a  community, 
where  essential  rights  are  not  grossly  infringed  by 
the  civil  power,  and  where  friendship  imparts  its 
kindness,  and  sympathy  tenders  its  ministrations, 
and  honor  walks  erect  in  all  the  intercourse  of  life, 
and  benevolence  performs  its  kind  offices  and  dis- 
penses its  treasures,  and  religion  diffuses  its  heavenly 
charities  and  pure  morality — in  such  a  community 
there  must  be  happiness,  however  the  tide  of  party 
politics  may  turn,  and  whatever  form  its  government 
may  assume.  No  mistake  can  be  greater  than  to 
imagine  that  a  free  government,  or  a  particular  ad- 
ministration of  it,  is  a  panacea  for  all  evils,  and  the 
grand  requisite  to  national  happiness.  It  is  indis- 
pensable, so  far  as  to  afford  civil  security,  and  beyond 
this,  it  is  valuable  while  directed  by  justice  and 
truth,  and  no  longer  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  all 
governments  on  earth.  The  Danes  under  a  legal 
despotism,  and  a  fortunate  succession  of  kings,  have 
had  a  higher  and  more  uniform  measure  of  social 
happiness,  than  has  been  found  among  the  vallies  of 
the  Alps,  under  the  Helvetic  confederacy,  which,  for 


33 

five  hundred  years,  have  been  governed  by  free  in- 
stitutions. The  South  American  States,  from  Mex- 
ico to  Brazil,  have  had  independence  and  republican 
constitutions ;  but  when,  since  the  storm  of  revolu- 
tion and  anarchy  began  to  beat  on  those  realms, 
have  their  population  been  as  intelligent  and  virtu- 
ous, as  comfortable  and  happy,  as  are,  at  this  mo- 
ment, the  people  of  despotic  Prussia,  where  there  is 
general  order,  private  virtue,  and  the  most  perfect 
system  of  universal  education  on  the  globe  ?  Com- 
pare two  countries  under  the  same  political  constitu- 
tion, the  extremes  naturally  and  morally  of  the 
United  Kingdom — not  compare,  but  contrast  the 
barren  but  noble  Scotland,  with  the  fertile  but  mis- 
erable Ireland — the  improved  moral  and  social  con- 
dition of  the  one,  with  the  debasement,  tumult  and 
pauperism  of  the  other,  and  this  after  six  centuries 
of  British  dominion.  Such  facts  are  not  adduced 
to  prove  that  despotism  is  preferable  to  rational  free- 
dom, or  that  a  bad  government  is  better  than  a  good 
one,  but  to  show,  as  they  do  incontestibly,  that  the 
welfare  of  a  state  depends  more  on  the  diffusion  of 
intelligence  and  individual  virtue,  than  on  the  sound- 
ness of  its  political  theories,  or  the  perfection  of  its 
civil  polity. 

If  the    happiness  of  a    people  does   not  depend 
mainly  on  their  form  of  government,  much  less  does 
5 


34 

it  on  the  decision  of  general  questions  of  policy 
which  arise  under  its  administration,  which  are  often 
temporary  and  magnified  into  fictitious  importance 
by  the  perverted  vision  of  party.  Our  public  do- 
main, a  national  exchequer,  protection  and  revenue, 
or  the  order  of  succession  to  the  presidential  chair — 
what  are  these,  important  as  they  are,  compared 
with  the  cherishing  of  those  habits  and  virtues, 
which  are  the  basis  of  all  we  prize,  in  the  relations 
and  intercourse  of  social  life  ?  Yet  how  much  more 
deeply  do  these  political  subjects  arrest  the  attention 
and  move  the  feelings  of  this  entire  nation  ;  and 
when  introduced  into  our  legislative  assemblies,  how 
much  more  of  zeal  and  eloquence  do  they  call  forth, 
than  any  questions  pertaining  to  universal  education, 
or  to  the  conservation  of  the  public  morals.  Is  not 
this  an  evil  ?  Is  it  right  that  such  a  great  proportion 
of  our  political  zeal,  and  even  of  our  legislation, 
should  have  no  respect  to  the  highest  interests  of  the 
land  ?  Is  it  right,  in  legislating  on  subjects  that 
have  a  moral  bearing,  as  of  bankruptcy,  of  divorce, 
and  of  capital  punishments,  not  to  make  their  moral 
bearings  a  paramount  consideration  ?  Can  it  be 
right  to  contravene  the  revealed  laws  of  God,  and 
set  an  example  to  the  community  of  contemning  his 
published  will  ?  Can  it  be  right  for  politicians  so 
to  manage  the  business  of  elections,  and  the  discus- 


35 

sion  of  public  measures,  and  the  whole  of  political 
warfare,  as  to  depress  the  standard  of  public  virtue 
and  demoralize  society  ?  Such  public  conduct,  by  its 
deteriorating  character,  and  by  its  corrupting  influ- 
ences, is  an  evil  incomparably  greater  than  any 
which  arise  from  incompetent  legislation,  or  mere 
political  errors.  And  this  practice  of  assigning  to 
politics  a  rank  above  morals,  would  find  a  sure  cor- 
rection in  that  profound  respect  to  the  Almighty, 
and  to  his  designs,  which  will  lead  men  to  weigh  all 
interests  in  the  balances  of  rectitude  and  truth,  and 
to  regard  primarily  the  moral  and  permanent  well- 
being  of  their  species. 

It  is  to  be  expected  also  that  we  shall  encounter 
the  evils  arising  from  visionary  and  disorganizing 
schemes  of  reform. 

Levelling  in  politics,  like  fanaticism  in  religion,  is 
a  species  of  empiricism  which  will  have  its  devotees. 
Some  may  honestly  leave  the  paths  of  experience 
and  ccmmon  sense  for  the  regions  of  political  ro- 
mance. Others,  from  an  ambition  to  acquire  a  dis- 
tinction by  disorganizing  theories  which  they  never 
would  gain  by  promoting  truth  and  order,  and  judg- 
ing of  their  importance  by  the  uproar  they  occasion, 
proceed  to  assault  the  wisdom  of  ages,  and  to  pro- 
claim doctrines  which,  if  carried  out,  would  desolate 
society.     Practical   rules   are    safe   when   they  have 


36 

been  tested  It  is  by  following  conclusions  war- 
ranted by  facts,  and  obvious  deductions  from  known 
principles,  that  true  science  has  been  advanced.  It 
was  in  this  way  that  the  civil  fathers  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  this  Republic  were  able  to  acquire  and 
exhibit  to  the  world  more  of  the  true  nature  of  gov- 
ernment, than  could  be  gathered  from  all  the  theories 
and  speculations  ever  offered  to  mankind.  How 
absurd  then  to  leave  the  lessons  of  experience  for  the 
schemes  of  visionary  theorists  ! — especially  for  those 
which  have  been  tried  and  are  rejected  by  the  com- 
mon sense  of  civilized  society.  Surely  history  has 
been  written,  and  philosophy  has  applied  it,  to  little 
purpose,  if  the  errors  of  past  generations  are  to  be 
repeated  by  those  that  follow. 

The  world  has  already  witnessed  the  promulga- 
tion of  doctrines,  and  an  attempt  to  reduce  them  to 
practice,  which  were  not  wholly  unlike  some  now 
advocated.  It  was  contended  that  the  right  of  suf- 
frage belonged  to  the  inhabitants  of  all  countries, 
irrespective  of  their  moral  condition,  and  that  to 
withhold  it  justified  insurrection.  Emancipation  from 
religious  thraldom  —  equalization  of  property  —  the 
natural  rights  of  man,  were  urged  to  their  full  extent. 
The  priestly  order,  that  supposed  instrument  of  en- 
slaving the  mind,  was  crushed.  The  possessions  of 
the   rich  were  sequestered.     If  hereditary  property 


37 

was  not  abolished,  it  was  at  the  disposal  of  the  mass, 
and  if  equality  was  not  realized,  it  was  their  fault. 
And  what  was  the  result  of  this  experiment  in  free- 
dom ?  Its  enormities  were  the  terror  of  the  world. 
The  whole  fabric  of  society  was  heaved  as  by  an 
earthquake.  Will  not  one  such  experiment  in  the 
history  of  our  race  suffice  ? 

A  political  theorist  speculating  in  seclusion,  and 
feeling  none  of  the  evils  which  follow  from  his  spec- 
ulations, may  perpetrate  mischief  on  a  mighty  scale. 
It  is  not  an  adequate  justification  that  his  errors  are 
those  of  a  benevolent  mind.  No  man  has  a  right  to 
disregard  the  teachings  of  experience  and  the  prac- 
tical wisdom  of  his  generation — to  put  on  the  hardi- 
hood necessary  to  stir  up  a  community,  from  mere 
hypothesis,  to  venture  on  fundamental  changes  which 
must  be  hazardous  and  may  be  destructive.  The 
private  individual  who  wastes  his  estate  on  impracti- 
cable schemes,  however  harmless,  is  pitied.  But 
something  more  than  pity  is  due  to  him  who,  disre- 
garding the  monitions  of  the  past,  and  the  guides  of 
the  present,  devotes  exalted  powers  to  mischievous 
speculations,  and  trifles  with  the  happiness  of  a  na- 
tion— to  him  who  promulgates  theoretical  doctrines 
which  first  tend  to  excite  popular  discontent,  and 
then  to  increase  it  to  a  revolutionary  phrenzy  ; — doc- 
trines which  engender  the  elements  of  discord,  and 


33 

array  the  different  orders  of  society  in  hostility  to 
each  other  as  "  natural  enemies,"  which  aim  to  take 
down  and  reconstruct  the  social  edifice,  and  which, 
if  carried  into  effect,  would  put  into  our  hands  a  cup 
of  trembling. 

It  is  matter  of  gratitude  that  such  men  are  as 
yet  so  few.  It  does  not  follow  that  their  power  of 
evil  is  to  be  despised.  The  most  sanguinary  scenes 
recorded  in  the  annals  of  revolution,  are  traceable 
to  the  agency  of  a  few.  And  the  surest  defence 
against  such  danger  is  that  sound  moral  and  religious 
influence  which  restrains,  by  giving  energy  to  con- 
science, and  which  leads  the  people  to  prefer  sober 
views  and  safe  usages,  to  violent  and  dangerous  re- 
forms. The  same  influence  will  prevent  political 
parties  from  courting  the  alliance  of  such  helpers  ; 
from  increasing  their  power  of  mischief,  and  from 
arresting  the  descent  of  their  doctrines  to  oblivion. 

No  enumeration  of  public  evils  would  be  complete, 
that  did  not  include  those  which  arise  from  the  ex- 
travagance and  profligacy  of  party  principles  and 
party  action. 

To  declaim  against  the  existence  of  parties  in 
politics,  is  as  unwise  as  it  is  futile.  Able  and  as- 
piring men  will  honestly  espouse  different  views  on 
political,  as  on  all  other  subjects.  Wherever  there 
is  freedom  of  opinion  and  action,  they  will  discuss 


39 

their  particular  doctrines,  and  endeavor  to  propagate 
them.  As  these  doctrines  relate  to  questions  in 
which  every  citizen  has  a  personal  concern,  and  for 
the  decision  of  which  he  has,  by  the  constitution,  a 
personal  responsibility,  they  must  often  awaken  a 
strong  interest.  Hence  the  distinction  of  parties. 
They  are  unavoidable  in  a  free  country.  To  a  cer- 
tain extent  they  are  useful.  The  perpetual  inspec- 
tion of  the  eagle  eye  of  party  is  a  powerful  check 
upon  thoughtless  and  injudicious  legislation,  and  may 
and  should  contribute  to  the  perfection  of  measures 
of  policy,  and  to  the  strength  of  the  government. 

My  objection  lies,  not  against  parties  in  them- 
selves considered,  but  against  the  spirit  and  princi- 
ples by  which  they  are  usually  governed.  Their 
leaders  and  active  adherents  too  often  appear  to  fear 
party  more  than  God,  and  to  love  its  spoils  better 
than  the  rewards  of  honest  virtue.  They  do  not 
sufficiently  honor  the  claims  of  civil  government. 
They  do  not  perform  political  duties  with  a  suitable 
reference  to  the  will  of  Him  who  appointed  these 
duties,  nor  even  with  a  just  regard  to  the  common 
principles  of  morality.  This  is  the  great  source  of 
the  evils  that  arise  from  the  existence  and  action  of 
parties.  If  their  agents  were  honest,  and  acted 
upon  the  high  principles  of  Christian  virtue — if  they 
avowed  no  sentiments,  urged  no  arguments,  adopted 


40 

no  measures  except  those  which  they  conscientiously 
believed  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  God 
and  with  the  true  ends  of  civil  society,  nearly  all 
the  evils  of  party  would  at  once  cease,  however  dis- 
cordant its  principles  and  intense  its  action.  Honest 
differences  of  opinion,  issuing  in  upright  conduct, 
would  be  the  least  of  all  our  public  evils,  and  scarce- 
ly a  calamity. 

Party  introduces  into  politics  a  dangerous  code  of 
morals — false  principles  and  defective  motives  of 
conduct.  It  proposes  the  most  selfish  ends  and  at- 
tains them  by  dishonest  means  ;  often  sanctioning 
an  utter  disregard  of  the  dictates  of  true  patriotism, 
as  well  as  a  violation  of  the  precepts  of  Christianity. 
Instead  of  regarding  all  political  power  as  a  sacred 
trust  from  the  Almighty,  to  be  exercised  only  in  har- 
mony with  his  will,  and  with  the  highest  welfare  of 
the  whole  country,  it  accounts  this  power  a  fortui- 
tous acquisition,  to  be  wielded  for  party  purposes, 
especially,  to  secure  its  own  perpetuity ;  and  in 
ways  however  immoral,  and  on  principles  however 
dangerous,  which  party  shall  prescribe.  It  sets  aside 
the  law  of  God,  as  an  authoritative  rule  and  a  motive 
of  political  conduct,  and  makes  the  eternal  principles 
of  rectitude  bend  to  views  of  political  advantage. 
Like  an  unprincipled  despot,  it  is  swayed  by  preju- 


41 

dice  and  passion,  acts  without  conscience,  and  legis- 
lates without  God. 

What  humiliating  proofs  of  the  prostitution  of  par- 
ty meet  us  on  every  hand!  Amidst  its  selfish  con- 
tests, the  great  interests  of  the  country  are  lost  out 
of  view.  Momentous  questions  of  policy,  affecting 
the  industry,  the  business,  the  morals  of  this  entire 
nation,  are  made  subservient  to  the  one  great  object 
of  acquiring  or  retaining  party  power.  Its  schemes 
and  operations,  at  this  moment,  in  our  national  Le- 
gislature, leave  little  time  to  devise  and  perfect  meas- 
ures important  to  the  general  welfare,  and  render  it 
well-nigh  impracticable  to  secure  the  legislation  de- 
manded by  the  necessities  of  the  people. 

It  is  melancholy  to  witness  the  extent  to  which  it 
is  true  of  nearly  all  political  movements,  that  the 
reigning  Deity  is  party,  and  the  inspiring  Genius 
party  selfishness.  Party  furnishes  the  principle  of 
conduct — sets  the  example  —  bestows  the  reward. 
The  great  object,  however  artfully  concealed  under 
professions  of  regard  lor  "  the  people,"  is  party  emol- 
uments and  triumphs.  Even  the  virtues  of  life  are 
weighed  in  its  balances.  True  patriotism  is  to  obey 
its  requisitions ;  fidelity  to  the  country  is  the  blind 
adoption  of  its  measures.  Its  leaders  and  oracles 
are  wheeled  about  in  its  anomalous  revolutions,  but 
too  general lv  kept  by  a  strong  centrifugal  force 
6 


42 

equally  distant  from  what  ought  to  be  the  centre  of 
union — political  opinions  embraced  in  Christian  integ- 
rity— political  action  in  harmony  with  virtuous  prin- 
ciple— all  public  conduct  on  right  moral  grounds. 

Is  there  not  needed  another  revolution  in  morals 
like  that  recently  witnessed  among  society's  outcasts, 
which  shall  reach  men  more  guilty  and  dangerous — 
corrupt  and  unprincipled  partizans  ?  The  means  of 
reformation  are  within  our  power.  They  are  involv- 
ed in  a  corrected  public  opinion.  Let  moral  men 
decree  a  moral  revolution  in  politics.  Let  them  foil 
the  machinations  of  evil  men  at  those  primary  as- 
semblies, where  they  concentrate  their  cabals  to 
effect  a  nomination,  relying  on  party  machinery  to 
secure  an  election.  Let  the  people  resolve  to  vote 
only  for  men  of  sound  moral  worth ;  to  abide  by  this 
rule,  though  it  may  cost  a  present  triumph,  being  as- 
sured that  no  party  victory  can  compensate  for  its 
violation.  Such  a  purpose  of  moral  and  Christian 
freemen  carried  out,  while  they  follow  their  political 
preferences,  however  various,  will  accomplish  the 
end.  The  suffrages  of  the  great  mass  of  the  tried 
friends  of  virtue  and  religion,  will  be  too  grave  a 
matter  to  be  disregarded  by  the  agents  of  party. 
Let  moral  men  cast  aside,  even  in  the  greatest  polit- 
ical emergency,  every  candidate  whose  conduct,  in 
any  relation  of  life,  is  stained  by  palpable  immorali- 


43 

ties,  however  faithful  he  may  have  been  to  his  politi- 
cal faith,  or  to  his  country.  The  virtuous  are  to 
demand  that  their  rulers  have  that  honesty  which 
has  the  guaranty  of  uniform  virtue  and  sound  moral 
principle,  which  will  lead  them  to  be  faithful  among  the 
faithless,  and  preserve  them  uncontaminated  amidst 
infection  ;  not  that  honesty  which  can  be  so  easily 
maintained  when  it  runs  on  the  line  of  interest  and 
promotion — but  that  which  will  endure,  when 
tempted  by  the  chances  of  office  in  a  new  combina- 
tion of  parties,  or  by  a  place  in  the  line  of  succession 
to  the  cabinet  or  the  throne. 

It  is  manifest  that  great  responsibilities  must  at- 
tach to  men  of  eminence,  not  merely  from  holding  a 
public  trust,  but  as  private  individuals.  And  no  re- 
sponsibility rests  upon  them  more  obvious,  or  more 
important,  than  to  augment  the  prevalence  and  the 
efficacy  of  religious  principle.  If  it  is  the  safeguard 
of  freedom,  there  can  be  no  higher  duty  of  a  patriot 
than  to  cherish  and  extend  it. 

Scarcely  less  is  their  responsibility  from  the  rela- 
tion of  their  own  private  morals  to  the  public  virtue. 
Let  them  solemnly  consider  the  reflex  influence  of 
their  example,  on  the  people  at  large.  Thousands 
of  youthful  aspirants  learn  to  treat  lightly  obligations 
to  moral  duty,  from  the  bad  example  of  one  eminent 
for  station  and  intellect.     The   brilliancy  of  his  ca- 


41 

recr  and  the  splendor  of  his  talents,  give  force  to  his 
example.  His  very  vices  have  honor  and  dignity, 
from  their  association  with  his  success  and  his  public 
fame.  And  it  were  idle  to  expect  an  extensive  re- 
formation of  principles,  or  suppression  of  vices,  while 
rank  and  station,  wealth  and  power,  throw  their 
mighty  influence  into  the  opposite  scale.  Never  will 
sound  moral  and  Christian  truth  obtain  the  ascen- 
dancy it  deserves,  till  those  who  mould  general  opin- 
ion and  practice,  submit  to  its  authority  ;  till  the 
makers  and  administrators  of  our  laws  shall  respect 
the  divine  law ;  till  the  rulers  of  the  people  shall  be 
in  subjection  to  God. 

The  economy  of  this  world  is  adapted  to  moral 
excellence,  rather  than  to  intellectual  greatness. 
The  human  race  has  more  need  of  the  ministrations 
of  virtue,  than  of  the  efforts  of  genius.  Had  many 
names  now  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  literature  and 
science,  never  been  enrolled  on  those  bright  records, 
how  much  less  the  loss  to  mankind,  than  if  there 
never  had  existed  men  like  Solon  and  Lycurgus,  Al- 
fred, John  Winthrop,  William  Penn  and  Washington  ! 
The  former  have  contributed  to  the  honor  and  plea- 
sure of  their  species ;  the  latter,  simply  by  their  vir- 
tues, have  added  an  inconceivable  amount  to  the 
happiness  of  the  world. 

This  accommodation  of  the  divine  economy  is  also 


seen,  in  the  homage  which  human  nature  pays  to 
virtue,  rather  than  to  talent.  It  was  a  maxim  of  the 
ancients,  that  an  orator  must  he  a  good  man.  This 
was  deemed  essential  to  give  moral  dignity  to  him- 
self, and  to  his  efforts.  It  is  equally  true,  that  those 
who  would  live  in  the  honorable  remembrance  of  a 
future  age,  must  be  virtuous.  The  moral  sense  of 
mankind,  has  made  this  essential  to  a  bright  and  en- 
during fame.  In  public,  Caesar  and  Tullv  are  alike 
eloquent  in  praise  of  virtue  and  patriotism  :  we  follow 
the  former  to  his  retirement,  and  find  him  profligate, 
and  in  fellowship  with  unprincipled  and  dangerous 
men  ;  we  follow  the  latter  to  his  Tusculan  villa,  and 
he  is  still  the  friend  of  virtue  and  freedom.  And 
how  much  more  profound  our  tribute  of  respect  to 
the  Roman  citizen,  than  to  the  Roman  emperor ! 

Those  dissolute  statesmen  so  conspicuous  in  the 
British  senate,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century,  will  ever  suffer  from  the  moral  blemishes 
found  upon  their  character.  What  if  Charles  James 
Fox  was  one  of  the  most  splendid  of  orators  ? 
What  if  his  royal  friend,  the  Prince  Regent,  was  the 
most  "  polished  prince  "  in  Europe,  and  sitting  upon 
its  loftiest  throne  ?  Will  not  perpetual  ignominy  at- 
tach to  their  vices? — to  their  moral  and  political 
prostitution  ?     History  can    never   so    palliate   their 


46 

guilt  and  garnish  their  infamy,  that  their  shame  shall 
not  be  revealed. 

Robespierre  was  eloquent ;  his  last  speech  to  the 
Convention  was  a  specimen  of  eloquence  scarcely 
surpassed.  But  who  now  remembers,  or  praises  his 
eloquence  ?  He  was  intellectual  and  profound,  and 
by  mere  power  of  thought  could  sway  an  assembly. 
But  who  applauds  his  talents  ?  His  heart  had  some 
generous  sympathies ;  he  mourned  the  effusion  of 
blood  ;  the  last  works  of  his  life  were  projecting 
benevolent  institutions,  and  a  melioration  of  the 
criminal  code  ;  he  even  pronounced  in  public,  a 
beautiful  and  just  vindication  of  his  Maker,  hoping 
that  reverence  for  God  would  restrain  the  brutal 
passions  of  men.  But  who  has  been  told  of  his  hu- 
manity ?  From  an  obscure  chamber  over  a  trades- 
man's shop,  he  sent  out  an  influence  that  made 
Christendom  tremble.  But  who  has  admired  his 
power  ?  In  condemnation  of  his  character  the  world 
has  forgotten  his  talents.  We  cannot  praise  the 
orator,  or  the  statesman,  while  we  abhor  the  man. 
How  differently  will  the  world  treat  a  contemporary 
Christian  statesman,  across  the  channel !  Who  in 
civilized  countries  will  not  hear  of  the  eloquence 
and  virtues  of  Wilberforce  ?  The  annals  of  humane 
and  righteous  legislation  will   give  him   immortality. 


47 

The  spirit  that  honors  benevolence,  will  keep  his 
name  fresh  in  the  hearts  of  mankind. 

In  our  own  country,  soon  after  the  adoption  of  our 
Constitution,  we  find,  among  our  great  men,  one  con- 
spicuous for  public  services,  as  well  as  for  sagacity 
and  talent.  As  the  leader  of  his  party  in  the  Amer- 
ican Senate,  in  a  debate  upon  one  of  the  gravest 
questions  that  ever  came  before  it,  he  was  put  for- 
ward by  his  friends  as  their  chosen  antagonist  of 
Rufus  King.  At  three  several  times  was  he  unani- 
mously designated  by  them  in  convention  as  their 
choice  to  represent  his  country  at  a  most  important 
Foreign  Court ;  and  Madison  and  Monroe,  as  their 
committee,  urged  his  nomination  in  vain,  upon  the 
first  President  of  the  Union.  By  political  fortune 
and  force  of  talent,  he  rose  still  higher  in  public  life. 
But  what  measure  of  public  service — what  eminence 
of  talent  and  station — can  ever  remove  the  infamy 
that  covers  the  name  of  Aaron  Burr  ? 

On  the  contrary,  those  excellent  men  associated 
with  him  through  the  revolution  and  in  our  national 
councils — those  honoring  us  abroad  as  Franklin  and 
Jay — those  at  the  head  of  our  Supreme  Judiciary, 
Ellsworth  and  Marshall ; — how  would  they  sink  in 
the  regards  of  mankind,  if  the  imputation  of  immoral 
conduct  were  fastened  upon  them!  Suppose  history 
could  be  falsified,  and  some  veil  could  now  be  lifted 


48 

which  should  reveal  to  us  the  Father  of  his  country, 
as  loose  in  morals,  or  profligate  and  licentious  in  his 
habits.  How  would  the  moral  feelings  of  the  entire 
nation  be  revolted !  Even  the  base  of  the  land 
would  regret  the  disclosure. 

May  men  of  public  station  be  governed  by  higher 
motives  than  a  regard  to  fame — by  the  fear  of  God 
and  the  good  of  men  !  But  do  they  regard  mainly 
the  posthumous  awards  of  history  ?  Let  them  main- 
tain high  moral  worth.  Immoralities  are  not  lost  in 
the  radiance  of  talent  and  office,  like  spots  on  the 
sun.  Moral  delinquencies  will  not  be  excused  here- 
after, because  they  were  associated  with  noble  deeds 
and  sentiments,  and  with  powers  that  command  ad- 
miration. The  Future  will  pluck  the  garland  with 
indignation  from  the  brow  of  him  who  has  possessed 
eminent  abilities,  in  unnatural  alliance  with  moral 
turpitude,  and  will  erase  him  from  the  marbles  of 
honest  fame.  Consider  that  moral  and  Christian 
principles  are  destined  to  have  far  greater  extension 
and  ascendancy,  and  must  ultimately  sway  the  judg- 
ment of  the  world.  Even  now,  if  the  virtuous  and 
the  upright  fix  a  seal  of  infamy  upon  character,  it 
will  remain  ;  history  will  transmit  it ;  and  posterity, 
through  all  its  generations,  will  echo  its  justice. 

Whatever  unfavorable  appearances  darken  our 
moral  and  political  horizon,  I  have  no  sympathy  with 


49 

alarmists — none  with  those  who  are  ever  and  falsely 
telling  us,  that  the  former  times  were  better  than 
the  present.  Amid  pressing  and  threatening  evils, 
there  are  redeeming  tendencies  and  indications  of 
promise.  They  are  seen  in  an  increasing  regard  to 
the  elevation  and  improvement  of  the  great  mass ; — 
in  the  very  sensitiveness  of  the  less  favored  orders  to 
their  own  condition  and  rights  ; — in  the  great  moral 
revolutions  by  which,  in  a  short  period,  immense 
numbers  of  the  vicious  are  reclaimed  ; — in  the  alarm 
and  reaction  which  ensue  when  public  evils  become 
extreme  ; — in  the  conservative  temper  of  the  majori- 
ty, manifested  in  times  of  peril,  rebuking  profli- 
gacy in  party,  experiments  in  legislation,  corruption 
in  rulers,  and  nullification  in  states.  There  are 
grounds  of  encouragement  in  the  fact  that  our  hon- 
orable men  by  example,  and  our  legislatures  by  en- 
actments, encourage  and  dignify  agriculture  and  every 
species  of  reputable  labor,  which,  by  the  moral  hab- 
its they  induce,  and  the  extended  and  fixed  interest 
they  create  in  the  stability  of  our  institutions,  are 
one  of  their  main  pillars ; — also  in  the  active  philan- 
thropy of  the  age,  which  is  relieving  every  want 
which  man  can  feel,  or  which  man  can  mitigate  ; — 
and,  especially,  in  the  more  practical  influences  of 
Christianity,  which,  retreating  from  the  fiery  weapons 
of  disputation,  and  clothing  herself  in  the  garb  of 
7 


50 

charity,  has  gone  forth  on  her  ministrations  of  love, 
laboring  for  the  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  ad- 
vancement of  mankind.  The  page  of  prophecy  re- 
veals hope  :  both  Revelation  and  Providence  indicate 
a  moral  progress.  1  would  not  so  dishonor  the  Deity 
as  to  believe  that  government,  which  He  has  institut- 
ed for  the  benefit  of  the  many,  is  to  be  their  ever- 
lasting scourge.  And  if  liberty,  like  religion,  lingers 
near  the  tombs  of  its  martyrs,  it  will  tarry  long 
amid  the  sepulchres  and  battle-grounds  of  these 
Christian  states. 

Yet  there  is  danger.  He  is  blind  that  does  not 
see  it.  The  future  must  be  crowded  with  disaster, 
except  on  one  condition — except  our  intelligent  free- 
men give  their  hearts  to  God  and  their  country,  and 
their  hands  to  "  forge  and  join  the  links  of  that  golden 
chain,"  which  is  to  bind  us  to  Heaven  and  to  each 
other. 

When  England,  in  intimation  of  her  jealousy, 
accused  Russia  of  "washing  her  right  hand  in  the 
Black  Sea  and  her  left  in  the  Baltic,"  Russia  retorted 
that  "  England's  hands  and  feet  are  washed  in  all 
the  seas  of  the  universe."  To  other  nations  belong 
the  ambition  of  extending  their  dominion,  by  con- 
quest and  from  selfish  policy,  till 

"  Their  morning  drum  beats  round  the  world  ! " 


51 

Ours  be  a  loftier  ambition — to  fill  the  vast  territo- 
ry we  already  have,  with  moral  purity  and  social  hap- 
piness; to  cover  our  vallies,  on  either  side  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  with  the  blessings  of  knowledge  and 
freedom,  of  virtue  and  religion.  When  at  no  dis- 
tant day  one  hundred  millions  are  to  live  between 
the  two  great  oceans  that  bound  us,  they  are  to 
find  questions  of  highest  import  to  them  mainly  de- 
cided by  this  generation.  Be  it  ours  to  fulfil  our 
duty  to  these  coming  millions,  by  giving  force  and 
extension  to  those  principles  of  justice  and  truth 
which  are  the  foundation  of  all  social  union. 

That  civil  power  has  passed  from  the  few,  into 
the  hands  of  the  many,  and  that  the  people  are  the 
guardians  of  their  own  welfare,  is  a  cause  for  joy  ; 
not  merely  as  a  matter  of  justice  and  natural  right, 
but  as  creating  the  necessity  of  qualifying  them  to 
guard  the  trust  of  self-government.  It  requires  that 
they  be  fitted  to  assume  the  responsibilities,  and  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  freemen,  which  is  to  ensure 
their  moral  elevation.  It  brings  us  to  this  alterna- 
tive— the  improvement  of  the  great  mass,  or  sure 
destruction ;  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  religion, 
or  the  overthrow  of  our  liberties.  We  must  do  good 
to  our  countrymen,  or  the  nation  must  perish.  A 
glorious  alternative !  It  presents  the  powerful  mo- 
tive   of  self-preservation,   to   ennoble   ourselves    by 


52 

conferring  benefits  on  others  ;  and  it  were  better  to 
perish  in  such  high  endeavors,  then  to  live  in  security 
without  them. 

It  would  ill  become  the  sons  of  New  England,  to 
be  recreant  to  religious  principle.  That  the  people 
should  be  intrusted  with  their  own  welfare,  that  the 
just  powers  of  government  are  derived  from  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed,  were  accounted  monstrous 
dogmas,  till  the  pious  puritans  "  dipped  the  banner 
of  the  cross  in  the  blood  of  their  country."  They 
asserted  these  and  kindred  truths,  in  the  face  of 
power  and  precedent,  amidst  battles  and  revolutions, 
and  determined  to  exemplify  them  at  any  cost. 
Behold  the  result !  What  is  New  England  ?  Read 
her  history  and  revere.  Look  upon  her  as  she  now 
is,  and  admire.  Honor  religion,  as  first  and  foremost 
of  the  causes  of  her  glory  and  renown.  Over  our 
soil  the  waters  of  the  Divine  Word  have  flowed,  and 
left  their  golden  deposit. 

And  who  will  predict  any  other  than  a  career  of 
honor,  to  our  own  favored  Commonwealth  ?  Who 
does  not  take  satisfaction  in  her  preeminence  among 
our  states,  in  her  rank  in  our  national  councils,  in 
the  fame  of  her  statesmen,  in  her  ancient  institu- 
tions and  splendid  charities,  in  the  confidence  re- 
posed abroad  in  her  public  faith,  in  her  past  eminence 
in  moral  and  Christian  virtue,  in  all  her  history  up  to 


53 

this  date,  as  it  will  be  read  by  coming  ages  ?  May 
the  day  never  come,  when  those  who  fill  her  places 
of  civil  trust,  shall  impair  her  character  and  dignity, 
which  with  our  own  citizens  is  to  be  the  ground  of 
their  attachment  to  their  State  and  its  government, 
and  which  is  to  claim  from  other  states,  and  from 
foreign  nations,  the  tribute  of  respect.  To  whatever 
hands  her  government  is  committed,  may  there  be 
moderation  in  its  councils  ;  equity  in  its  legislation  ; 
an  adherence  to  that  line  of  its  policy,  which  is  at- 
tested as  wise,  by  long  experience  and  ample  pros- 
perity ;  a  pursuance  of  that  course  of  liberal  meas- 
ures, of  regard  for  prescriptive  and  vested  rights,  of 
abhorrence  of  parsimony  and  proscription,  which  has 
generally  marked  its  administration.  Such,  ever  be 
our  honored  position  among  the  members  of  this 
great  confederacy !  And  should  the  period  ever 
come,  when  the  associated  states  shall  be  jostled 
from  their  place  in  the  national  union,  and  in  falling 
crush  the  fabric,  may  ours  stand  unmoved  on  the 
sure  foundation  of  Christian  virtue,  an  eternal  depos- 
itary of  Law  and  of  Liberty. 

To  your  Excellency,  who  has  so  often  honored  the 
highest  offices  of  the  Commonwealth,  I  offer  the  sal- 
utations customary  upon  this  occasion,  presuming 
upon  your  concurrence  in  the  sentiments  that  have 
been  expressed.     Your  political   and  private   life  has 


54 

already  indicated  your  approval.  I  may  not  speak 
of  services  performed  for  the  State,  both  in  its  Exec- 
utive Chair  and  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  which, 
illustrious  as  they  have  been  from  their  immediate 
influence  upon  the  general  prosperity  of  the  people, 
are  scarcely  less  illustrious  from  their  conformity  to 
the  lofty  principles  of  an  incorruptible  integrity.  The 
moral  dignity  and  salutary  influence  of  such  an  ex- 
ample are  to  be  reckoned  among  the  high  benefits 
conferred  by  a  distinguished  public  life.  There  are 
higher  honors  than  those  lost  or  won  by  the  muta- 
tions of  party,  or  by  the  mere  accidents  which  often 
determine  the  result  of  popular  suffrage.  Whatever 
destinies  may  betide  you  on  the  turbulent  sea  of  pol- 
itics, thousands  of  the  noble  and  the  virtuous  will 
hold  you  in  honorable  remembrance,  and  with  the 
unbought  suffrages  of  their  hearts,  will  elevate  you 
to  a  higher  distinction  than  office  confers — the  dis- 
tinction of  having  truly  loved  and  ably  served  your 
country. 

To  those  who  bear  a  portion  of  executive  respon- 
sibility, his  Honor,  the  Lieut.  Governor  and  the  Ex- 
ecutive Council ;  also  to  the  Senate  and  the  House 
of  Representatives,  I  may  offer  my  congratulations 
that  you  have  been  honored  with  the  confidence  of 
an  intelligent  people,  and  that  you  have  the  oppor- 
tunity afforded  you  of  honoring  yourselves  and  your 


55 

offices,  by  discharging  the  duties  of  your  respective 
trusts,  as  those  who  fear  God,  honor  government,  and 
would  deserve  well  of  those  who  have  committed 
power  to  your  hands. 

A  Christian  people  may  well  expect  of  their  legisla- 
tive power,  that  both  the  manner  of  its  exercise,  and 
the  laws  which  are  its  result,  shall  be  in  accordance 
with  Christian  principles.  And  there  is  never  greater 
danger  of  their  violation  than  when  parties  approach 
to  an  equality  of  numerical  strength.  On  whichso- 
ever side  the  balance  may  turn,  your  constituents 
will  desire  no  higher  pledge  of  impartial  and  useful 
legislation,  than  your  observance  of  Christian  rules  as 
your  supreme  law.  Then  you  will  deem  violations 
of  moral  duty  as  evils  for  which  no  party  triumphs 
can  compensate,  and  engage  in  a  more  honorable 
rivalry  than  of  political  warfare — that  of  exhibiting 
virtues  and  conferring  benefits.  In  your  public  la- 
bors, and  in  all  your  future  course,  may  you  be  gov- 
erned by  that  high  Constitution,  framed,  not  by  man, 
but  by  the  Ruler  of  the  universe,  and  verify  the  say- 
ing of  the  most  distinguished  statesman  of  past  ages, 
11  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  instruction  of  wisdom." 


